


The Electricity That Went Out At Dusk

by Cat (ActualBuckyBarnes)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Powers, Angst, Basically I Asked Why Not And This Happened, Everyone Is BAMF Because Powers, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Government Agencies, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Want To Give Anything Else Away, I Finished It I Feel So Proud Of Myself, I Keep Changing The Title I'M SORRY, I May Or May Not Write A Sequel, I Poured My Heart And Soul Into This, I will add more characters later, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Nightmares, No You Don't Get It Phil Is Literally A Ray Of Sunshine, Not Relationship-Centric, Nothing Too Gruesome, Phil Is A Ray Of Sunshine - Freeform, Prisoners, Rated 'M' For Violence And Language, Shane Being an Asshole, Singing, So much angst, Sorry I don't write smut, Sorta-Kinda Fucked Up, Visions, YouTube, powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:31:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6531277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActualBuckyBarnes/pseuds/Cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Last round!" Dan cheered, racing through a Blue Shell and grinning maliciously.</p><p>"Gotcha." Dan threw the Blue Shell.</p><p>Phil fell off the track.</p><p>Dan crossed the finish line in first.</p><p>"Yeah!" Dan threw the Xbox controller in the air and shouted gleefully.</p><p>That's when everything went wrong.</p><p>-Or the one where I give everybody powers, x-men style, and watch the awkwardness unfold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Abraham's Daughter

_**"Dan. Dan!" Phil's voice echoed. Dan raced around the corner of the Hallway of Existential Crises and into his flatmate's bedroom.** _

_**"What's wrong... Phil?!" Dan gasped. His flatmate was clutching his stomach, eyes glazed over.** _

_**"G-Goodbye Dan." Phil rasped, "I might not be able to make it to dinner tomorrow."** _

_**"No! Don't say that!" Dan said frantically, "We- we just need Zoe. Zoe!"** _

_**"'s too late." Phil slowly fell to the ground, "You'll move on, find someone better, someone new."** _

_**"No I won't." Dan's voice sounded sure, "I won't find someone better than you. Please don't leave, stay with me. Just stay with me."** _

_**"Goodbye Dan. I- I love you-" Phil made a strangled sound and closed his eyes.** _

_**"Goodbye, Phil." Dan sobbed into his dead friend's chest, "I love you too."** _

Dan awoke from his nightmare in a cold sweat.

"Phil!" He called, jumping up when there was no answer.

"Dan, Dan, it's okay." Phil said when Dan sprinted into his room.

"I had a nightmare." Dan panted. Phil wrapped Dan in a hug, comforting him.

"I'm gonna assume you don't want to talk about it?" Phil inquired.

"Nah, I just don't want to go back to sleep." Dan said. Phil glanced over at the clock. **6:45 AM**.

"Okay," Phil agreed, "Just let me get my coffee, okay?"

"Yeah," Dan nodded. The pair went to the kitchen, and Phil started a brew. Dan was wide awake, so he didn't need any.

"Those nightmares have been picking up speed lately, haven't they?" Phil asked, concerned. Dan nodded.

"That's ten in the last month. You're losing a lot of sleep." Phil remarked.

"I can't help it," Dan protested.

"I know, just try to relax, okay?" Phil said, "Take a break."

"I'll try." Dan smiled.

"Thank you." Phil grinned back, "Now how about we play some Mario Kart?"

.o0o.

"HAA!" Phil yelled triumphantly, "I win!"

"Okay, one more round, please?" Dan begged, "Winner take all."

"Psh, like I'm gonna fall for that." Phil rolled his eyes.

"If I can't call a Winner Take All round, then you can't either." Dan said.

"One more round it is." Phil said immediately, toggling another game. The two were shouting at each other and Dan was in the lead for the first round, Phil the second.

"Last round!" Dan cheered, racing through a Blue Shell and grinning maliciously.

"Gotcha." Dan threw the Blue Shell.

Phil fell off the track.

Dan crossed the finish line in first.

"Yeah!" Dan threw the Xbox controller in the air and shouted gleefully.

That's when everything went wrong.

Something happened. A cloud of darkness escaped from Dan's palms and engulfed the both of them. Dan felt fine.

Phil couldn't breathe.

"Phil?" Dan asked. The darkness seemed to part at his touch, and soon he had found his flatmate.

"You okay?" Dan asked. The darkness parted around Phil's body and the older man heaved a breath.

"Yeah, just fine." Dan lent his hand to Phil, to help him up, which Phil gratefully accepted.

"What _was_ that?" Phil wondered. Dan stared at his hands.

"No clue." Dan continued to stare at his palms when a realization struck him.

"I did that." He gasped.

"I'm sure it was an accident." Phil said, reaching forward a bit nervously to comfort his panicking friend.

"No! Don't touch me! I'll do it again!" Dan squeaked.

"No, you won't." Phil assured, reaching forward again.

"Yes, I will!" Dan yelled, tears threatening to flow. Spurts of dark energy emanated form his hands with every syllable.

"Just calm down, Dan." Phil stared into his friend's eyes.

"Oh, what're you going to tell me? This is normal, Dan! Just a natural part of life, to have crazy powers which could potentially _KILL SOMEBODY._ " Dan was bordering on hysteria.

"CALM. DOWN." Phil yelled. A bright flash of light filled the room, chasing away all the darkness.

"Did you... do that?" Dan gasped. Phil nodded, just as shocked as Dan.

They both jumped when there was a knock at the door. Both men glanced around and noticed flecks of light and darkness floating throughout the flat. On instinct, both clenched their fists and all the particles came flying back to them.

"Woah." Phil said, thoroughly impressed.

"That is awesome!" Dan squealed.

The knock at the door sounded again.

"Open up. This is Agents Blair and Bird. We are here to take you into custody."

"Oh."

"Shit." Dan finished Phil's sentence, rushing to get the door.

"Why, hello, Agents," Dan said in a voice very much unlike his own, "What can I do ya for?"

"Hands up. The both of you. YouTubers have been getting powers, and we don't know why." One said, "We'd just like to do a bit of testing-"

"Dan, Dan, I don't like this..." Phil was the one panicking now. Sure, he'd joked about the government experimenting on people, but when it actually happened it was scary as fuck.

"It'll be fine, Phil." Dan assured his friend, but put his hands up all the same, "Do as the nice people say."

On a whim, Dan grabbed Phil's hand. Phil was grateful for the comfort, especially when they were boarded onto a scary looking van in handcuffs. Especially when they arrived at a facility that had obviously been improvised. Especially when the Agents introduced them to Dr. Bedlevic.

"Hello, boys," His voice sounded shady, too smooth to be trusted, and with an accent that was difficult to place, "What do we have here?"

"Erm," Dan stuttered, eyes wide, "We- we were playing Mario Kart-" Dr. Bedlevic sighed, as too many of the patients' stories had started like that, "And I won, and I was really excited and then it was dark-"

"And I couldn't breathe-" Phil added.

"But I cleared the dark in time to save Phil. But then I started freaking out so Phil basically yelled at me to shut up but then he was really bright and then all the light and dark flew back to us and," Dan was rambling really, really quickly, so Phil squeezed his grip on Dan's hand.

"Are you two dating?" Dr. Bedlevic raised an eyebrow at them.

"No." Dan said defensively, "We're just flatmates."

"Ah. That's a shame," Dr. Bedlevic said, "I'm going to have to separate you."

"No!" Phil gasped, "Dan's been having nightmares and I'm-"

" _Really_ , Phil?" Dan asked sarcastically, "Just _give_ the man a list of all the things that could make us dangerous to society, why don't you?"

"Y'know, I'm just trying to help us out here-"

"Really? By telling the man I've been having nightmares about you dying-"

"You WHAT."

"Oops." Dan had let slip the nature of his terrifying dreams.

"Dan, why didn't you tell me?"

"I- I didn't want you to know, and, and..." Dan was suddenly glaring at Dr. Bedlevic, who was scribbling furiously onto a piece of paper.

"Oh, don't mind me, keep talking." He grinned, but Dan and Phil were obviously done bickering.

"It's obvious that you two share a codependency, whether or not it is romantic and/or sexual, so I will not be separating you. However, you will be boarded with four other YouTubers, who will be determined later." Dr. Bedlevic said, "So, get comfy in your holding cell, while we get the facility papers in order."

.o0o.

"What's going to happen to us?" Dan wondered out loud. The two of them had been placed in separate holding cells.

"Nothing, Dan. We're going to be fine." Phil said, reassuring himself just as much as his friend.

"How can you be sure, though?" Dan asked, letting some of the darkness emanate from his fingertips. He had to admit, he was getting better at that. On the other hand, Phil seemed to be getting _worse_ , if that was possible. The outbursts of light from Phil's hands seemed erratic at best, and at worst completely random and blindsiding.

"How do you do that?" Phil asked, late that night in the dim lighting of the prison.

"You just- kinda- _feel_ the energy." Dan supplied, "God, I sounded so emo in that second."

"Like, this?" Instead of a blinding, bright light, there was a softer glow emitting from Phil's palm.

"Yeah, like that." Dan applauded with his own power, sending the darkness dancing into Phil's cell. Phil sent some light to meet the darkness and, although Phil's energy was much cruder than Dan's, the end result was stunningly gorgeous. It was as if the boys had created their own galaxy, with stars and darkness. It almost whispered to the boys- not in a creepy way, but rather in the way that a mother might whisper for her child to fall asleep. And so they did. They slept for so long that waking felt refreshing and energizing. And for the first time in a few days, Dan didn't have a nightmare.

.o0o.

"Up and at 'em, boys!" A female with a southern American accent called.

"Wha-" Dan sat up quickly, sending his and Phil's 'Galaxy' flying.

"We got the paperwork done to transfer y'all to the facility," She drawled, "'N I've got a list of your roommates right here."

Assuming that she meant flatmates, both men grabbed a sheet of paper.

**Area 51, New Mexico**

"Oh. My. God." Dan smiled, "New conspiracy theory."

"Dan, we don't have a camera." Phil rolled his eyes at the man.

"And you won't get one." The woman said, narrowing her eyes, "Since this was a matter of public safety, the meeting went much faster than originally intended. You will be kept away from others until you learn to control your powers, and even then you will not be allowed to disclose yourselves to anybody."

"Okay, so, who're our flatmates?" Dan muttered to himself, turning the sheet over to find six names listed on the back; Tyler Oakley, Troye Sivan, Mark Fischbach, Connor Franta, and their own names, of course.

"Wait. Who's Mark Fischbach?" Phil asked, pointing to the name.

"I guess you'll find out." She said seriously, unlocking the door.

"I have some more questions," Dan started to ask, "Why YouTubers? Is it _all_ YouTubers? If not, then how were they chosen?"

"I don't know," The woman said gruffly, "Now get in the copter."

.o0o.

The last time Dan and Phil had ridden in a helicopter was fun. Being handcuffed and unable to open a parachute should the need arise was quite another story.

"Dan..." Phil was starting to freak out. Dan grabbed Phil's hand again, and one of the guards gave them a knowing look.

"Oh- we're not- he's not-" Dan blushed. He tried to let go of Phil's hand but Phil wasn't having it, and if anything gripped Dan's hand even tighter.

"Sure," The other guard said, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever." Dan rolled his eyes back at the guard. They then competed in what must have been the most ludicrous glare-off ever, in a helicopter, one thousand feet in the air, with Phil gripping Dan's hand like his life depended on it, and the guards looking slightly off-put just by being in the same space as someone with superpowers.

"Dan, _Dan_ , what's happening?!" Phil started freaking out again as the helicopter was landing.

"We're _just_ landing, Phil." Dan said. Phil's grip on Dan's hand strengthened more- which Dan hadn't thought possible- and looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Calm. Down." Dan hissed at Phil. They certainly didn't know what they were getting into, although they were almost positive it wouldn't be a relaxing weekend getaway.

They landed on a grim landing strip, near a desert, with no cities in sight. Area 51 was _huge_ , a tall, box-like structure that reminded both boys a little too much of school.

"Welcome to the compound, boys," The woman with the southern accent drawled, "You'll be staying here quite a while."

_Chapter Song: Abraham's Daughter; By Arcade Fire ___


	2. Dark Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once there, Dan and Phil learn how their flatmates found their powers (and, more importantly, who Mark is).

"Hey, Troye." Dan greeted the young Australian teen, who was cradling a jar of Nutella like it was his baby.

"I took it on a whim," Troye said, "Now I can't waste it."

"Too true. Hey, where're the others?" Phil asked, sitting down on the loveseat. Dan and Phil had been led through a nearly empty hallway into a room where they traded their skinny jeans and t-shirts for weird gray onesies. They were not adorable like the Totoro onesie.

"I think they want to bring us in slowly, so as to not provoke 'outbursts'," Troye remarked, "So Connor, Tyler, and Mark aren't here yet."

"Okay," Dan said, stretching out in the chair and rubbing his eyes. Although he'd had what must have been the best sleep of his life, he was already tired. Their flat was a small space, square rooms and old furniture. There was a table with six chairs around it, two bathrooms, a couch and two loveseats. Everything was gray and there were only seven rooms; three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the commons. Dan and Phil had yet to check out their room, although based on what they'd seen so far, there wasn't really much hope. The doors to the three bedrooms were locked 'Until Further Notice'.

"We can't even see the Tumblr fallout with us missing." Troye said offhandedly, "I'd almost like to see that."

"Yeah," Phil snorted, "I think I might even miss the phanfiction."

"I would legitimately read the hat fic, the skin fic, _and_ the lung fic to get out of here," Dan agreed.

"So, what're your powers?" Troye asked.

"We'll show you." Dan said simply, allowing the dark tendrils to snake from his fingertips, almost lazily. Phil let the light move from his palms.

"Heh," Troye chuckled, "Y'know, the phangirls always joked about you two being like yin and yang. I guess they were right."

"Okay, now your turn." Dan and Phil said at the same time. Troye smiled, "I can sing."

"No shit, you were on the radio." Dan rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean I can replicate pitches of anything. I can sound like anybody." Troye said, sounding very much like Dan himself, "I can also make people go unconscious and break glass, but I think you should just take my word on that."

"Woah." Dan said, at the same time as Phil's, "Freaky."

"How'd you figure out your powers?" Dan asked.

"My sister and I were play-fighting and she started tickling me, so I screamed, and she fainted." Troye gulped, "I thought she'd died."

"Wow." Dan nodded his head and leaned forward a bit, "I got a bit excited while we were playing Mario Kart and Phil shouted at me while trying to calm me down, and that's how that happened."

"What do we do now?" Dan fell back into the loveseat after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"We wait." Troye sighed, "I waited about two hours alone for you two."

"Wow." Dan said, "I'll nap." He got an idea. He let the darkness snake around him like a blanket. It was oddly comforting, almost soft, and warm.

Troye stared into space and Phil did the same, thinking about how they'd ended up there and why.

.o0o.

It was three hours until the next person arrived. He was thrown into the cell by gloved hands roughly. They hadn't bothered to take off his hand cuffs or make him change clothes, just shoved the gray jumpsuit into his hands and pushed him into the flat. He slid down against the wall and stared into space without greeting.

"Tyler!" Troye said happily. The man shrank back from Troye's advance.

"Please don't touch me." He squeaked. To be honest, Tyler looked a bit traumatized. His hair was oily and not quaffed like usual.

"Tilly," Troye's eyes suddenly filled with concern, "What's wrong?"

"I- I was almost ready to go out with my friends, and Korey was saying goodbye for the night and I was really excited so I fist-bumped him and something happened and- and- he was thrown up against the wall and- he's dead." Tyler barely whispered the last bit.

"Oh, Tilly," Troye said sadly. Dan and Phil sent him pitying glances.

"I'm sorry, Tyler," Dan said, "I almost killed Phil too."

"But you didn't." Tyler said.

"That's right, but only because he had powers of his own." Dan replied, "Otherwise, I would've."

"Yeah," Phil sat down in front of Tyler, "I want to try something." He reached out with his light- which was almost like a sixth sense, or an extra muscle, or maybe something in between. It wrapped around Tyler and filled him with a warmth like sunshine, lifting his spirits.

"Oh my God, it's working!" Phil squealed. Tyler wasn't _euphoric_ , necessarily, but he also wasn't depressed.

"Why are you here? I don't think you've got a dangerous power." Tyler frowned, "You could be used to cure, like, depressed people or something."

"Honestly, you think I know?" Phil rolled his eyes. He got up, but the trail of golden light stayed wrapped around Tyler like a blanket.

"I think," Dan said, "If we're going with the yin yang metaphor here, there's always some light in the darkness, and some darkness in light."

"That makes sense," Phil nodded. The mood returned to melancholy as they waited for another to arrive, maybe even worse off than Tyler. Dan had taken to testing his powers, making intricate designs in the air. Phil practiced too, but Tyler and Troye just sat next to each other, in silence.

.o0o.

The next to arrive, after only one hour of waiting, was Connor Franta.

"Hey, man!" Dan said from the loveseat, proudly displaying his power. Phil had started to get the hang of his, although it was hard to do things as intricate as Dan was.

"Hey," Connor sighed, sitting on the couch, "I have had no sleep, please don't bug me."

"Aw, c'mon, just tell us what power you got and how you figured it out," Tyler begged from the other side of the room, "Please?"

"Fine," Connor groaned, in no mood to deal with these people, "I can do this-" There was suddenly another Connor, sitting right next to where Connor 1.0 sat.

"Took them forever to figure out which one of us was the original," Connor 2.0 grinned cheekily. The two joined back together.

"Anyway, I was so freaked out. I wasn't with anybody at the time, just watching some good ol' TV, when they killed off my favorite character!" Connor threw his hands up in the air in mock anger, "And I was screaming at the TV, then I realized that there were _two_ screams, and looked to my left, where there was another me! Then I was screaming at new me and then there were like thirteen me's."

"Oh, that's almost- that's hilarious!" Phil snorted, "So much better than what happened to us. Dan won Mario Kart and got excited, so he did something and then it was dark and I couldn't breathe, but he cleared up the dark stuff, and started freaking out. Like the amazing friend I am, I helped him out by telling him to calm down in a calming, soothing voice-"

"You yelled at me to shut up." Dan interjected.

"I am telling a story here, shush." Phil replied, "Anyway, then some light came out of my fingers and that's how we discovered our powers."

"That's actually pretty funny too." Connor snorted, "So what about you two?" A somber mood immediately fell over the room.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry-" Connor started to apologize, but both men waved it off.

"It's fine. We should talk about it anyway." Troye smiled at Tyler, "I was wrestling with my sister, Sage, when she started tickling me, so I screamed, knocking her out. I thought she was dead, but she wasn't."

"I was really excited to go out to dinner with a few of my friends, and I must've gotten too excited, because I touched Korey and sent him flying against the wall. He's dead." Tyler sniffed again.

"I'm so sorry." Connor apologized. All five were silent for the next four hours, which was how long it took for them to retrieve the last member of their flat.

"Have fun!" A sadistic voice said, throwing a disgruntled man inside. They heard the door slam shut and lock threateningly, and a green light filled the room. Suddenly Dan couldn't move his newest sense, and Phil couldn't either. Any abilities the others had had were cancelled immediately.

"Thank God." Tyler breathed, turning to hug Troye. He relished in the human contact, the first he'd had in a week after the incident.

"Well, this puts some holes in my plan." The new man- Mark- said.

"You're Mark, right?" Dan held out his hand. It seemed to dawn on Mark who he was talking to, and he tried not to fangirl. He honestly did.

"Oh. My. God." His jaw dropped, "Dan Howell? I'm a huge fan."

"Wow, thanks." Dan smiled sincerely. Although meeting his fans wasn't rare- not any more, at least- meeting one was still a heartwarming experience.

"I'm Mark, or Markiplier. I do mostly gaming videos." Mark grinned at Dan.

"Oh, well, we'd say we'd have to check out your channel, but, y'know," Dan gestured to the grey walls around him, "So, what brings you here?"

"The Easter Bunny." Mark replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. Dan could tell he'd like this one already, "Actually, I was playing FNAF, for nostalgia's sake, and I'd forgotten how unused to jumpscares I'd become. The first one had to be around 5:43 on the first night, which was depressing, but I screamed and somehow I wound up in my backyard."

"That sounds fun." Phil laughed.

"Especially since I landed in my pool, when the cover was on, because it was cold outside, and there was rainwater in the cover, and it took me ten minutes of thrashing to actually get out," Mark said, "Yeah, it was fun. Also, I have a new phobia."

"Congratulations." Dan rolled his eyes. Phil and Troye laughed, and Tyler even let out a chuckle.

"So, what was your plan to get us out of here?" Phil wondered.

"Mostly anarchy and death." Mark shrugged, "Knock out or kill as many guards as possible. Dan could've blacked out the watch towers. Phil could light the way for us until we reached civilization. I'm sure others could cooperate with their powers as well."

"Can you teleport other people?" Phil wondered.

"I don't know." Mark shrugged, "I never got that much time to explore my new ability."

 _"Good Afternoon, citizens of Area 51,"_ Dr. Bedlevic's voice sounded over the loudspeaker, _"It has come to my attention that having multiple people in a room with powers could be dangerous, so I've deactivated all of yours. Your roommates have been confined from anywhere from just a few hours to weeks, so be polite. You will be kept in your rooms until the training facilities are prepped and ready to go. You will be sharing rooms with whoever you choose, but lights out at ten-thirty. I expect to see no hand-holding, kissing, or hugging in the hallways, regardless of relationship status."_

"He does realize we're _adults_ , right?" Connor muttered.

 _"Yes, Connor Franta, I realize that you are all adults, however, this is my facility and I can choose to do with it what I please."_ Connor's grin faded when he realized that Dr. Bedlevic could hear them. Everybody groaned, if he could hear them now, he could certainly hear all their previous conversations.

 _"Goodnight, everybody, I hope to see you soon. Your bedroom doors are now unlocking, and I expect to see you in bed in thirty minutes, as that's when light's out occurs."_ True to his word, he unlocked the doors as the announcement was going on. Mark and Connor were the only two who didn't know each other, but they were paired up because Phan and Troyler wanted rooms to themselves.

"Goodnight, guys." Connor said, looking as defeated as all the others felt.

"Goodnight." Everybody else chorused. Dan and Phil shut the door to their bedroom and found two shower stalls off to the side.

"Oh thank God, I don't know what I would do if I had to share showers with everybody." Dan sighed a breath of relief.

"Let's hurry up." Phil suggested, walking toward the showers. Dan followed and stripped, turned on the hot water and jumped underneath the stream of soothing liquid. There was no shampoo, conditioner, or soap, so Dan just stood there for a while once he'd scrubbed everything down. Phil was singing again. Horribly off-key, too.

"Tomorrow will be kinder," Dan decided to join in, and suddenly they were actually in a pretty decent harmony, "It's true, I've seen it before. A brighter day, is comin' my way. Yes, tomorrow will be kinder." Hearing through the thin walls, Troye sang a verse, "Black clouds are behind me, I now can see ahead, often I wonder why I try, hopin' for an end. Sorrow weighs my shoulders down, and trouble haunts my mind, but I know the present will not last, and tomorrow will be kinder." The three sang the chorus again and- with some encouragement from Troye- Tyler joined in. Connor joined the last verse and nudged Mark so that the other man would sing too. Actually, the six men were really beautiful in their singing, and Troye's voice added a quality that made it almost ethereal, even if his power was deactivated. They sang the last words, "A brighter day, is comin' my way. Yes, tomorrow will be kinder."

The lights and water shut off.

"I guess that's light's out, then," Dan muttered, putting on his jumpsuit, which was itchy when Dan was wet. Dan almost laughed when he worried that he would be getting back his hobbit hair. He laid down on a cot, and Phil on the other.

"Dan?" Phil checked on his friend.

"I'm not going to sleep any time soon." Dan said. Sure, he was exhausted, but he wasn't tired, if that makes sense. He was apprehensive of the grey box building that seemed to be _made_ of secrets.

"Can you come here?" Phil asked. A tear leaked slowly down his face. He felt lonely, there was no other word for it.

"Sure," Dan said, walking over to Phil's cot and laying down in front of him. Dan's consolation to himself was that there were no cameras here, no chance their sleeping arrangement could make it on to the internet, which would certainly implode if it found a picture of them cuddling.

"Dan, what if we never get out of here?" Phil wondered, "My family, I never said goodbye to them. I never said goodbye to Martyn. I miss them, Dan." Another tear rolled down Phil's cheek.

"Shhhh," Dan comforted, partly because hey, Phil was his friend, and partly because he was terrified as hell of what would happen if they were found to still be awake, "We will get out of here. You'll be able to go back to your family, I'll be able to go back to mine, we'll say hello to the internet again." Phil didn't say anything, just gripped Dan closer to him and laid his head on Dan's shoulder.

"Thank you." Phil whispered.

"Any time, Phil." Dan said back.

"Goodnight." Both said with a finality. Dan fell asleep easier in Phil's arms, insomnia forgotten.

_Chapter Song: Dark Days; Punch Brothers_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all got lucky- my throat feels like I just gave Shrek a bj (Shrek is love, Shrek is life) so I was allowed to stay home from school. Comments and kudos give me life, thank you guys! Also, I'm listening to the Hunger Games soundtrack (again), so the majority of the songs will be from there- although, they are the right tone for the story, so don't blame me.


	3. Come Away To The Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Compound is not nearly as nice as Dan and Phil expected it to be.

A loud alarm woke the two men, who had fallen asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

"Urgh," Dan groaned, sitting up. He blew his hair out of his face and stood up, giving his hand to Phil to drag Phil up with him. The two groggily looked around their room, as they hadn't been able to survey it before. There was a dresser, which held nothing but gray jumpsuits. Dan took another and went into the shower stall to change. Phil did the same and, after they had both finished, headed out to the commons. On the table there were six cold trays with mush that looked just as appealing as eating the walls around them. 

"What even is this," Connor wrinkled his nose at the goopy product, "The least they could've done is used my branding, I mean, they _did_ kidnap me."

"I would kill for some Common Culture coffee right now," Tyler agreed. Troye sat to the right of Tyler, Connor to the left, Dan opposite Tyler and Phil to his left and Mark to his right.

"I got Nutella," Troye said, holding up the spread, "I'm rationing it, but I won't mind giving you some as long as you promise not to eat it all." Everyone swiftly agreed and the Nutella mixed with the mush was edible.

 _"Good Morning, everybody!"_ Dr. Bedlevic greeted them, _"The training facilities have come along faster than expected, so we are going to be letting you go to classes!"_

"Grand," Dan muttered under his breath, "And just when I thought I was _done_ with school."

"And something tells me we can't just drop out of this one." Phil whispered to Dan.

 _"Classes will start within two hours, so I suggest you try to find them as soon as possible."_ Dr. Bedlevic signed off. A 'click' let the six out and into the hallway. Dan and Phil pressed their sides much closer together than was necessary.

"This is bull." Another voice muttered, pushing past them, shocking green hair making him recognizable.

"Maybe it's everybody with more than a million subscribers?" Phil wondered. Jacksepticeye turned to glare at the two, clearly irritated at the whole situation. The two continued down the hallway until they reached a guard, who asked their names.

"Dan Howell and Phil Lester." Dan said meekly. The guard wordlessly handed them a sheet of paper and sent them on their way.

"Okay, I'm supposed to go to room 119, what about you?" Phil said.

"120." Dan sighed, downcast.

"It's fine, we'll be right next to each other." Phil grinned at Dan. Dan smiled back, if a little sadly.

"See you later," Dan said as he and Phil reached their destinations.

"We'll meet right here after, right?" Phil asked. Dan nodded and the two opened their doors.

.o0o.

"Am I the only one in here?" Dan found himself chuckling at the concept. He stood, facing an open courtyard-like area, except everything was enclosed and had a similarly depressing shade as the rest of the building.

"Nah, I just got my power back, I'm not gonna give it up now," A voice said.

"Who are you?" Dan rolled his eyes.

"Shane Dawson." The voice answered.

"Oh, hi Shane." Dan replied. He and Shane hadn't met, but nonetheless Dan watched his videos and found them entertaining.

"Who else do you think is in this class?" Invisible Shane wondered, when a face that seemed vaguely familiar to Dan walked in.

"Hey Dan," She said, "I'm sorry, I haven't had access to my makeup or anything else, so I must look like a train wreck."

"I... uh..." Dan stuttered, ignoring Shane's obvious laughter, "Sorry, but without makeup I can't say that I recognize you."

"It's Zoe." She retorted, sending Dan a death glare.

"I'm so sorry, Zoe, and _Shane would you stop laughing_." Dan grew annoyed at the American.

"Hey!" Another woman walked in, "What's up?"

"Currently, my rate of going insane and killing everybody in this building." Dan said dryly, "Hey, I don't think I've seen your videos. Who are you again?"

"Hannah Hart. My channel's MyHarto. Once we get out of this sucker, I would be honored if you'd check it out." Hannah said, grinning.

"You won't be getting out until you are deemed safe for society." A male, probably their teacher, walked into the room, "And that requires several psyche evaluations, several lie detector tests, several tests of your abilities, and an estimated year of training."

"A year?!" Shane gasped, sending Zoe and Hannah jumping, "I can already do this!"

"Yeah, do we really deserve this? I mean, the internet must be going _insane_ with all these YouTubers missing. I mean, PewDiePie, Zoella, PointlessBlog, AmazingPhil, and so many more are just _gone_! Poof!" Dan mimed something blowing up.

"We've taken care of that." The teacher said, "My name is Mr. Smith." Shane, still invisible, fake-coughed the word, "Witness Protection."

"No, Mr. Dawson, I am not in the WPP, and Smith _is_ my last name, and I would appreciate it if you would become visible again so we can get started and I don't have to deactivate your powers." Smith said. Shane grumbled as he materialized. 

"Okay, first lesson. We are going to explore each individual power of yours. Mrs. Deyes, why don't you go first?" Smith asked the woman. Zoe shook her head, "I can only do it when something is injured. I can heal things."

"Well then, we'll adapt. The first time someone gets hurt because they screwed up, it'll be your job to heal them." Smith said, turning to Hannah, "Miss Hart?"

"Okay, check this out. It works better when I'm drunk, by the way," She said. When Smith shook his head, she said, "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying." She stretched her hand out and Smith's pen came flying towards her.

"And if you think that's cool, wait until I show you this," She then concentrated really hard on the pen and it shattered. Luckily, Smith seemed to have a back-up pen and wrote something down on the paper.

"Ooh, what'cha writin'?" Shane wondered.

"Nothing you need to know." Smith replied gruffly.

"Well, okay then," Shane said sarcastically, "Well, you know how my power goes, I can turn invisible, like this!" He disappeared.

"Now I'm over here." He said excitedly, right behind Smith's ear, "Oh, by the way, Hannah, he says your power is very dangerous and that it could take up to five years to control. He also says that Zoe may be able to go home within the next couple of weeks."

"Oh thank God!" Zoe nearly screamed, "I'm on caffeine withdrawal."

"What?!" Hannah also nearly screamed.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hart, but until further notice, your power could be a danger to society, and we'd like to not take that risk."

"Well, then you probably won't like my power." Dan rolled his eyes and let the darkness stream from his fingers.

"Get that away from me," Smith said, almost as if he were disgusted by Dan's abilities.

"Why? Are you afraid that I'm gonna, _tickle you_?" Dan enjoyed the look of sheer terror on Smith's face and the look of pure hilarity on Shane's- who had manifested back into visibility. Zoe mostly looked happy and Hannah was still trying not to blow a gasket.

"SETTLE DOWN." Smith lost his patience and pressed a button on a remote. A green light filled the room and Dan's darkness no longer spread out, Shane couldn't turn invisible, and Hannah didn't change at all, she just returned to glaring at the man she now hated.

"Okay, second lesson. _You belong to us._ " Smith snarled, "You will use your powers when we tell you to and _only_ when we tell you to."

"That's a bit absolute dictator-y for America, right?" Dan questioned.

"This is a matter of public safety, not personal freedom." Smith said.

"And what is it about people who do drunk kitchen cooking shows, makeup tutorials, cross-dress, and shamelessly humiliate themselves for a living that is so 'dangerous to society'?" Shane deadpanned.

"You have all been given an enormous responsibility that nobody can handle-"

"Are you kidding?" Hannah snapped, "We've all written books. A few of us have written _two_. We go on tours and sign autographs. We're famous, in a sense. But that comes with responsibility, too."

"We're also worried for your mental health-"

"You're joking." Shane turned to the man, "I _have_ a therapist. Well, she might question me being missing for a few days, but she is probably more help than you guys will ever be."

" _And_ some of us have to keep day jobs as well as run our YouTube channels." Dan interjected, "That was _awful_ , and the reason why I had a mental breakdown at the end of my college career-"

"Do as I say or I will call in reinforcements," Smith narrowed his eyes, "And trust me, you don't want to be around for the reinforcements."

"Alright, then, sheesh!" Shane was suddenly defensive as he stood by all the others.

"Now, third lesson. You will not fight. Fighting is futile." Smith glared at all of them. Dan felt a strength burning in his stomach- it was that little voice in your head that just _loves_ to fight back, even if it is completely futile.

"Trust me when I say that many have tried, and all have failed." Smith said with a finality, "Now, for your first challenge, get out of a locked room with your abilities." Smith walked out of the room, locked it, and pressed the button. Dan immediately felt the familiar darkness escape from his fingertips and swirl to the padlock on the door. The lock rusted over.

"All yours," Dan nodded at Hannah, who immediately crushed the lock.

"Congratulations. You can go to lunch now, room 20." Smith said blankly. He clearly hadn't expected the four to do so well.

"Oh, congratulations to you too!" Shane said girlishly, "I'm so excited for you and Shaniqua."

"What?" Smith looked a bit affronted, but Shane had disappeared. Great.

.o0o.

Phil entered the room to find a set of desks and three others already there. Tyler Oakley, Jon Cozart, and Joey Graceffa.

"Oh, hey Tyler!" Phil waved to his friend as he sat down.

"First order of business, no talking." A woman in a pencil skirt and a blouse sat down, looking uncomfortably professional, "Second order of business, I need to do an input exam of all your powers. First we have Oakley, Tyler."

"Uh, I don't want to," Tyler shrank back in his seat.

"You have to. I said so." The woman said, "Now perform your power or I will have to take alternative measures."

"Okay," Tyler sighed, clapping his hands together and producing a shockwave. Phil quickly leant his power to the cause, and it worked, as the light effectively deflected the shockwave.

"More work needed," She muttered, "Okay, Lester, Philip."

"I prefer Phil, and I'm pretty sure you just saw my power." Phil said, smiling, "But I can do it again if you want to." He let light dance from his fingertips like the sun.

"That. Is. Awesome." Jon's jaw dropped.

"No talking!" The woman's pencil clicked on her desk, drawing their attention.

"Now, Cozart, Jonathan." She gestured to Jon, who simply smirked, waved, and said "Goodbye!", before starting to sink through the floor.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" The woman called Jon back to the meeting. He begrudgingly drifted back up and stayed in his seat.

"And, lastly, Graceffa, Joey." The woman said.

"Super-speed," Joey smiled, running around the room in .78 seconds.

"Fantastic. For my records, everybody has basic mastery over their ability, however, you will need extensive training to be able to manipulate it." The woman said.

"How long will that take?" Phil asked, raising his hand.

"Longer for some than for others. For you I am willing to estimate three to five weeks, for Joey two to three weeks, for Jon five to seven weeks, and for Tyler about a year."

"What?" Tyler did a double-take.

"You do have a powerful ability, and those are usually harder to master." She adjusted her glasses.

"Can we break for lunch?" Jon asked.

"No." She glared.

"But it's noon." Jon pointed out.

"And 'noon' doesn't dismiss you, I do." She glared.

"Uh, we don't even know your name." Jon said coolly.

"It's Miss Robinson."

"Jesus loves you more than you will know, oh, oh, oh," Jon sang immediately, but Miss Robinson sent him a death glare to keep him quiet.

"You can leave in ten minutes," Miss Robinson glared at Jon, " _If_ Jonathan can keep quiet the whole time."

Jon was quiet for ten minutes.

Miss Robinson looked like she would've been all too happy to keep them for another hour and a half.

"Afternoon classes start at three." She warned, slamming the classroom door shut as the four left. Phil was slightly disappointed when Dan wasn't waiting where he said he'd be, but he followed Joey instead.

"I wonder who all was given powers?" Joey said as the four walked to- wait.

"We don't know where the lunchroom is." The realization dawned on Phil.

"No." Jon looked horrified, "I need my food."

"Wait, WAIT!" Joey called after another group, speeding to catch up to them. Phil and co. followed at a more normal-human pace.

"You guys are going to lunch, right?" Phil gasped.

"Yep." One of the group had shocking green hair, another was silver.

"Wait. AmazingPhil?" The silver-haired one looked like he was going to have a fangirl moment- and indeed he was.

"In the flesh!" Phil let out a small chuckle, "You want a photograph of something?"

"Do I- of course I want a photograph." He said, "But the circumstances might prove to be a bit... limiting." Phil let out a snort.

"So, is your group just two?" Joey asked.

"No, but the other two, Smosh," Silver-Hair looked around, "Went off somewhere- I think they were making out?"

"O... kay?" Phil laughed.

"Oi, why's everybody ignoring me?" The one with green hair said, Irish accent prominent.

"Because, I'm trying to have a conversation with my idol." Silver-Hair said, "In case you haven't noticed."

"Fuck off, mate." Green-Hair let out a little puff of smoke from his mouth.

"He can control fire," Silver-Hair explained, "He just uses it to look like a dragon, though. I can control water, which is cool af, and I think Smosh have the other two, air and earth."

"Who are you, anyway?" Phil asked.

"Oh, I'm CrankThatFrank, Frank Gioia." Frank stuck out his hand for Phil to shake.

"I'm the one who has to read all of your fandom's phanfiction on camera." He said with a grimace.

"I am so sorry," Phil laughed.

"Well, here we are," Frank said, "Room 20."

They entered the lunchroom. Phil hoped that there wouldn't be too many YouTubers.

Phil was getting let down in all sorts of ways today.

_Chapter Song: Come Away To The Water; Maroon 5, Rozzi Crane_


	4. Pompeii

Dan waved to get Phil's attention.

"Nice job waiting for me." Phil grumbled as he sat next to Dan, after grabbing his food- an unappealing mush _again_.

"Sorry," Dan apologized, "With my teacher, you'd want to get as far away as you could the instant you could."

"I understand, my teacher was a nightmare." Phil bit into the mush, immediately spitting it back out, "IS THIS MADE OF ONLY CHEESE?!"

"I know," Catrific sat beside them, "I've never understood it either, but it tastes like the bad Kraft cheese squares that are pretty much just chemicals and melted plastic."

"Right. So, how are we getting out of here?" Dan dropped his voice to a whisper. He really didn't want to waste any time, and there had been a rumor going around, albeit slowly during classes, that Cat had an escape plan.

"Simple. We find someone who has the ability to tamper with electricity." She grinned wolfishly, "That's me. I'll short-circuit the circuit boards, then they won't have a chance. Everybody can use their powers for the cause. I'll need a list of who has what powers, first."

"Okay, I can control darkness, Phil light, Shane Dawson can become invisible, Markiplier can teleport, Troye Sivan has _impressive_ vocal manipulation, Zoella can heal things, Hannah Hart has telekinesis, which is badass, and that's all I know." Dan shrugged.

"Joey Graceffa has super-speed, Tyler Oakley can make shockwaves by clapping his hands together, Jacksepticeye can manipulate fire, CrankThatFrank can manipulate water, Smosh earth and air, and Jon Cozart- or Paint- can phase through matter and fly."

"Aw, no fair, I wanted that one!" Dan complained.

"Okay, so, what's your plan?" Phil quirked an eyebrow at the woman.

"It requires one thing," Cat said, "That Shane Dawson has a lot of control over his abilities. Enough to make two people invisible."

Word travels fast when people are seated right next to each other.

"I was told to come see you?" Shane sat down next to Cat, "By the way, I'm the skinnier now than I've ever been. I feel accomplished."

"I've got us a plan to break out." Cat smiled at the man, who looked a bit shocked.

"Seriously?" When Cat nodded, Shane said, "How do I come into play?"

Cat explained the whole plan to him. It sounded genius.

"Okay, so, I'll put my hand on your shoulder and-" Shane concentrated really hard and both of them flickered out of visibility.

"Nice. We can't see you." Phil confirmed. The two flickered back, Shane gasping for breath.

"Just do that for a few minutes," Cat smiled reassuringly.

"This is going to be so much exercise." Shane groaned, putting his head down on the table.

"Okay, now to get the word out." Cat said, "I'm putting you two in charge of spreading the word."

"Well, I'm not sure there's someone who _doesn't_ know by now." Phil surmised, seeing as the whole room kept shooting the table glances.

"Perfect." Cat sighed, "Now we wait."

.o0o.

Needless to say, the afternoon classes were just as boring as the morning classes were.

"And the signal for 'go' is-"

"The lights going out. Duh." Dan gave Phil a blank stare.

"Oh, right." Phil blushed under the scrutiny. The six of the flatmates had gone back to their dorm after their classes, so it was around eight o'clock.

"You spork." Dan rolled his eyes at his friend. The six had found a decent surprise- generic soap and a razor in their showers. They'd all shaved- or at least the ones who had grown stubble- and washed properly. They also had had a self-named 'Nutella Party', as, according to Troye's logic, "The Nutella won't last a day in the wilderness of Nevada."

"Should we do something?" Dan asked, at around nine.

"Like, what?" Mark shrugged.

"Sing something else?" Troye suggested.

" _You_ can sing," Dan rolled his eyes, "But there's no way in Hell you are getting me to sing."

" _Fine_ ," Troye rolled his eyes, before closing them and starting to sing (in Dan's voice, which pissed the other male off to no end). Sticking with the Hunger Games songs, he sang the Hanging Tree song, seeing as it was fit for the situation.

"Are you, are you, coming to the tree?" He closed his eyes and his voice took on a ethereal quality that certainly wouldn't have been possible without his powers, "Where they strung up a man- they say who murdered three. Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met, at midnight, in the Hanging Tree."

"Are you, are you, coming to the tree," Tyler joined in begrudgingly, "Where a dead man called out, for his love to flee. Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met, at midnight, in the Hanging Tree."

"Are you, are you, coming to the tree," Connor sang too, as he'd secretly always yearned to be a singer (okay, that was a lie and a poor attempt to put humor into a serious story, I apologize.), "Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free. Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met, at midnight, in the Hanging Tree."

"Are you, are you, coming to the tree," Phil and Mark joined, but Dan stayed silent, "Wear a necklace of rope, side-by-side with me," Phil nudged Dan when it got to that part, and Dan rather grumpily sang the chorus, "Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met, at midnight, in the Hanging Tree."

It seemed like the whole Compound- or at least its prisoners- joined in to sing it a second time.

"Are you, are you,  
Coming to the tree?  
Where they strung up a man,  
They say who murdered three.

Strange things did happen here,  
No stranger would it be,  
If we met,  
At midnight,  
In the Hanging Tree.

Are you, are you,  
Coming to the tree?  
Where a dead man called out,  
For his love to flee.

Strange things did happen here,  
No stranger would it be,  
If we met,  
At midnight,  
In the Hanging Tree."

The lights flickered off, almost as the grand finale of the song.

"We are a go." Dan said, feeling an instinct overcome him.

"Dan- Dan, you've disappeared." Phil said, shining a light toward where his friend was. As it turned out, Dan had literally become a shadow.

"That is fucking awesome." Mark commented, "You think you can do it to us, too?"

Shadow-Dan shrugged his shoulders and grabbed Connor's ankle. Connor yelped and jumped away from Dan. Shadow-Dan shrugged again and the six (five and a half? How do you count shadow-people?) left their dorm.

The storm-troopers had already started moving.

"I think I see one!" One yelled, firing their gun. A flash of flame and Jacksepticeye had fallen to the floor, but not without repercussions. To everyone's amusement, Jack had managed to catch several storm-troopers on fire. Phil let out a small beam of light to signal to everybody where he was.

"There! Five of them!" Another called, pointing to Dan's group. Everybody froze.

Phil and Tyler reacted in the same instant, Phil putting up a shield of light and Tyler sending a massive shockwave directly toward the horde of storm-troopers. They all toppled to the floor and the bullets were deflected.

"Well, I think you've figure out your power a little bit more," Mark said to Tyler, who just nodded.

"Come on, we have to meet everybody outside." Phil gestured, one hand lit up, "It's part of the plan." The group ran along to the stairs, racing down them.

They met another batch of storm-troopers. Only, this time they were invisible.

"Dan?" Phil called, looking around on the ground for the shadow-boy, "Dan?!"

"Tyler, Tyler there's something- mmmffph!" Troye was whisked away. The remaining four stood back-to-back, Phil shining his light everywhere to look for them.

"Their face masks flare." He gasped in relief, "Tyler, take 'em out."

"Hey! Hey, no," Connor said, "Get away!"

And then there were three. Tyler clapped his hands together and the shockwaves found their mark. He turned his hands for a different effect.

"Where'd they go?" Tyler panicked when all of the storm-troopers were fallen and visible again.

"Daniel James Howell!" Phil yelled, "Where are you?"

"Troye-Sivan!" Tyler called, "Connor!"

"Help!" Came a squeak from inside a classroom. Phil signaled again for Tyler and Mark to follow him.

"Don't touch my Bear." Phil said menacingly when the trio had reached their destination. Phil looked quite terrifying to be honest. The light burned red-hot instead of the gentle yellow glow that it was usually. Phil lashed out with the light, burning the guards, and Dan's words came racing back to him, _"There's a little darkness in light."_

"Are you guys okay?" Mark asked quickly, untying the three that were restrained in green rope which seemed to cancel their powers.

"Yeah," Dan said unconvincingly, and spat out a mouthful of blood- the green rope had been used to gag them as well. Troye's throat had been bound.

"Ty." Troye smiled at the older man, voice hoarse and nearly gone.

"Be quiet, we can't risk discovery." Tyler snapped quickly. Troye silently nodded. Phil let Mark take the lead this time. Mark led them down several passages, teleporting ahead and around corners to make sure it was safe. They made it outside.

"Oh, sweet ground." Connor sighed melodramatically, only to be greeted with a round of fire. Luckily, it missed him.

"Okay, so," Mark looked around quickly, "I'll knock out the tower guards by teleporting in and surprising them, everyone else is on ground control. Get Dan, Troye, and Connor to Zoe." The other two nodded and Mark disappeared.

"C'mon, Troye-Sivan, let's get y'all fixed up." Tyler sighed, half-carrying, half-walking Troye to where Zoe was letting off a pale blue light and healing people.

"Oh, no," She said, "What's happened here?"

"I don't know. Weird green rope." Phil shrugged, "Just fix them."

"Of course," Zoe said, holding her hands out. A blue light came through her palms, eyes, and mouth. Soon, Connor, Dan, and Troye were all better.

"Let's go. Where are we supposed to meet Cat?"

"Right outside the gates, to report any losses. Jacksepticeye is the only one I can think of," Phil said sadly.

"Okay," Dan said, "Let's run, then." The five ran like hell, across the open field, Dan holding up a shield on the left, and Phil on the right. They managed to get all of the members of their party to the gate, which had been opened.

"I guess Cat got here before we did." Dan said. Everybody stepped into the Nevada night.

_Chapter Song: Pompeii; by Bastille_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a _lot_ of singing in this- for which I apologize.
> 
> Btw, my Tumblr is llcheshirecatll, if you'd like to follow me :3


	5. Who We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look at me go- I don't think I've updated this frequently for this long :D

"Okay," Cat said, "Who can cloak?"

"I will." Dan stepped forward. Phil sent his friend a worried look.

"It's fine." Dan smiled reassuringly, "Zoe healed me, look! I'm all fine." Dan stood and sent the darkness flying into the sky and covering them all, silencing everything from the outside and protecting any bullets from remaining storm-troopers. Phil dotted the giant dome with light. Everybody was star-struck.

"Fantastic." Cat smiled, "Now, where do we go from here?"

"It's obvious that we can't even trust the governments." Troye frowned, "But I suggest we just go back to our own houses and pretend as if nothing has happened? Maybe if we don't address the problem, the governments won't either."

"Maybe," Cat shrugged, "Worth a shot."

"You're right." Shane said, "So, we should invent a story. How about, some insane fan with too much money and too much time, and too many helpers, went completely cukoo-bananas and kidnapped all of us, saying that we had super-powers?"

"Because the best way to get people to believe you're telling the truth-" Felix said.

"Is to say that you're lying." Mark replied grimly.

"Good." Cat grinned, "Is everybody here? We need to take inventory of who's dead, sad as it is."

"Jacksepticeye." Phil offered. Everybody listed the names somberly and almost numbly- a few even hitting close to home for Dan and Phil; Louise, PJ, and Chris were gone. Hannah broke into tears when she noted that Mamrie Hart had died. She turned to the nearest person- Connor- and buried her face in his chest, Connor comforting her. Ingrid walked up to her girlfriend and wrapped both arms around her. By the end, everybody was sniffling into someone or another's arms. Among the fallen were Jacksepticeye, Joe Sugg, Casper Lee, and Evan Edinger.

The only one left alone was Mark. He truly knew what the little dinosaur in the book, "All My Friends Are Dead" felt like.

"Now that we have that out of the way," Cat's face didn't have a smile on it any more, "We should go."

"Hang on," Phil remembered the effect that his light had had on Tyler. He let some more fly out, like lightning bugs, warming the hearts of everybody.

"Thank you." Hannah said, rubbing at her eyes. Phil just nodded and smiled gratefully as Dan drew back the shield and Cat led them into the desert.

.o0o.

Three days in and everybody was thirsty as hell. No, get your mind out of the gutter.

"Frank," Dan groaned, "Can you find anything?"

"Yeah- yeah," Frank strained to get the smallest amount of water for their overly-large group.

"Well, I was right about the Nutella," Troye pointed out.

"That you were, my small friend," Tyler panted. Frank manipulated the water around to give everybody a sip, and the group continued walking. Nobody had had more than a quart of water a day, so the effect was pretty much that they were exhausted and drunk.

"So where's the nearest town, Mark?" Cat turned to the man. Mark's glasses were fogging up again, so he rubbed off the fog and shrugged, "I have no clue. I've been teleporting for what feels like miles in every direction, I can't find anything."

"I hate this feeling," Connor frowned, "I was given this awesome gift, but if I can't keep one Connor hydrated, I'm sure two would kill our group in like a day."

"Can we stop and rest?" Troye panted. Everyone obliged, grateful for the chance to stop for a second.

"Can you check again, Mark?" Cat asked vaguely.

"Jon's the one that can fly!" Mark protested weakly.

"So why don't you _both_ go?" Felix rolled his eyes. Both Jon and Mark groaned but Jon flew up to scope out the next few miles and Mark snapped his fingers, sending himself somewhere.

"I cannot believe that a week ago I would have killed for the chance to meet Dan Howell." Frank said, "I guess I got my wish."

"Don't say that," Dan turned to Frank, "You didn't kill all those people."

"You are literally just as squish as I imagined you'd be." Frank said, completely out of the blue.

"I'm what?" Dan giggled.

"Squish. You are squish." Frank giggled back.

"I'm back, baby!" Jon landed on the ground, "And I have good news!"

"So do I." Mark appeared, "I've found a town!"

"I think we found the same town, dude." Jon rolled his eyes, "It's about seven miles to... uh... that direction," Jon pointed to where he'd flown off, "Let's a-go."

"Today is going to be a long day." Joey groaned.

"You're just realizing that now?" Cat raised an eyebrow at him.

.o0o.

The town was called _Pacific_.

"Hopefully they aren't experiencing a water crisis." Tyler said.

"What." Dan turned to face Tyler.

"You didn't learn about that?" Tyler asked, "Yeah, places like Texas, California, and Nevada are getting water crises."

"Ugh." Everybody groaned. Suddenly the sound of a rifle cocking could be heard. Instinctively, about half of them put their hands in the air. The other half were much too tired and dehydrated to do anything.

"And what do y'all think yer doin' on my land lookin' like escaped convicts?" A gruff man in a trucker hat asked.

"Uh, escaping from rabid fans?" Shane- who honestly at this point had no filter- rolled his eyes.

"You sassin' me, young man?" Trucker-Guy hissed, pushing the barrel of the rifle in Shane's face.

"Woah," Shane said, pushing it away from his head, "No need to get violent."

"You high or summin'?" Trucker-Guy asked.

"Nah, just haven't had much to drink for like- wait. How long were we out there?" The answer was three days, although nobody seemed to know.

"Oh, y'all just gotta get some water and some grub." Trucker-Guy dropped his weapon, "In that case, come right on in! Name's John."

"Well, hi there, John, my name is also Jon" Jon replied, shaking the man's hand. They walked in to the diner, and heads certainly turned. They expected this- days of walking in the desert with little water and no food, a fight, and those prison jumpsuits were not doing them much good.

"John, are you sure they won't set fire to the place? The one with dreads looks like she's ready to cut someone," An older woman gestured to Lily Singh.

"Hey, these are not dreadlocks." She said defensively, "I just haven't gotten to brush my hair in much too long."

"Okay, dear, please take a seat." The woman's voice suddenly took a less fearful tone, and she lent one of her booths to the crowd, which consisted of Felix, Hannah, Ingrid, Lily, Dan, Phil, Mark, Cat, Joey, Jon, Tyler, Troye, Connor, Frank, Ian, Anthony, Zoe, Alfie, and Shane. They looked around and realized that, although their group must have looked so large to everybody else, it was terribly tiny compared to what they had started with.

"What can I help y'all with?" A young girl, probably aged around nineteen, asked. The table just got water to start with, and although they noticed that she was nervous around them- I mean, who wouldn't be-, she was kind, "My name's Leila, I'll be your server today."

She smiled and put her pen away. As she put her pen away, her sleeve shifted, revealing a symbol drawn in black sharpie; cat whiskers.

"You're a fan?" Dan asked, out of habit.

"Of what?" She questioned. Dan knew that his hair probably looked different- but God, did he really look so malnourished that one of his fans couldn't recognize him?

"It's us!" Dan said, breaking into a coughing fit. They must have looked pathetic.

"What?" Leila asked, "You were pronounced dead, three days ago."

"What?" This was news.

"You were _all_ pronounced dead three days ago, or more! Tumblr had a _funeral service_! Tumblr! All of your social media was deactivated. The _Sherlock_ super-fans sympathized with us!" She ranted, "We mourned you!"

"We're so sorry." Almost everybody said at once, then Jon took over, "A fan who had way too much money and way too many resources kidnapped us. I'm sorry to say that the only vloggers who are still alive are within our group, though."

"Oh," The girl clapped a hand to her mouth, "I am so sorry."

"It's fine," Connor said.

"You shouldn't have had to go through that." She said, "Shakes after your waters. On me."

"We couldn't ask you for that-" Zoe started to say, but Leila waved off her concerns. She appeared a few minutes later with some waters.

"Hope you enjoy." She said, disappearing back into the kitchen. All of the people soon started gulping down their waters.

"Here's the shakes." She smiled, "I'm so glad you're back. I missed you."

"Honestly, thank you so much." Mark smiled.

"King of the squirrels!" The girl giggled, mock-saluting him and walking back to the kitchen to avoid having a fangirl attack in front of them.

"Wow," Lily said, "Even now, our fans are everywhere." They all started to eat their ice-cream treats, which were, for most, the first thing they'd had in a while that didn't make them want to vomit. Tyler soon fell asleep on Troye's shoulder, and Troye didn't seem to mind all that much. Soon Tyler and Troye had both dozed off- hey, walking in a desert for three days is exhausting- and so had Cat. Everyone else sat in companionable silence. They felt the weight of every dead YouTuber like a thousand-pound stone, especially Mark, who had lost nearly everybody he knew. They let themselves grieve, as you can't really do that when you're running for your life over barren wasteland.

Dan grinned at Phil after a while, "Maybe it'll be okay after all."

Little did they know that that is the _last_ thing you should say in an action fic.

.o0o.

A cackle was let out and a flash of too-white teeth filled the room.

"I've perfected it." A masculine voice with a hard-to-place accent chuckled deeply, "I've gotten my powers! They will know terror like no other!"

The lights went out.

"Recording. Mark 12 an almost-success." The voice said in a hopeful tone.

.o0o.

"I've notified the local authorities," The girl said offhandedly. Everyone at the table sucked in a harsh breath.

"Really?" Connor said sarcastically, before catching himself. He managed to pass it off as he'd accidentally choked on a bit of milkshake, though.

"Yep, they should be here in, like, ten minutes." The girl checked her watch.

"Gee, thanks." Frank said, trying to sound grateful.

"Any time. Hopefully that whackjob who killed so many of the people I've subscribed to gets what's coming to him." The girl hissed. She left again.

"Well, we'd would have had to face the government sooner or later, right?" Lily rationalized. Connor nodded.

"So do we wait?" Dan was the one who grabbed Phil's hand this time.

"I guess." Ingrid said, shrugging.

"We should sleep," Hannah suggested, "We've lost a lot of people and we've had no sleep in three days."

"Yeah," Dan and Phil chuckled in unison. Strange thing is, adrenaline can last a surprising amount of time. Everybody was tired as soon as the words had left Hannah's mouth, and soon, everybody was drifting away.

.o0o.

Everybody woke to several police officers surrounding their table, guns drawn nervously.

"What?" Shane asked, "Do I have something on my face?!"

"You had missing reports filed days ago, too many to be a coincidence." A female police officer, whose badge read _Jill_ said, lowering her gun a bit.

"Well, we're back now," Troye huffed.

"So you can _put the gun away_ ," Frank said cautiously, as he was the one who was sitting closest to said gun.

"Tell us what happened." Jill ordered.

"Wait," Phil said, confused, "You don't know?"

"Am I supposed to?" Jill replied, equally confused.

"Oh," Alfie had an epiphany, "You don't even know what happened."

"Meaning this is either above your paygrade-" Ian said, smiling at Anthony.

"Or we were kidnapped by someone who was operating independently from the government." Anthony smiled back.

"In fact, almost all vloggers were kidnapped," Jill narrowed her eyes, "Do you know what happened to them?"

"They're- they're dead," Connor spat the word out like it was poisonous. O2L had been mostly killed off at that point, too, so Connor felt just as lonely as Mark did.

"You are going to have to come in for questioning." Jill said, "Please go where we direct you."

"Just as long as we get food," Shane groaned, "I haven't eaten in like three days."

"We were out there for three days," Alfie pointed out. The YouTubers stepped out into the sunlight to find a SWAT team on standby.

"We weren't sure what dangers we'd have to face." Jill admitted, "But I can assure you, if we had kept you captive, we'd have let you wear your own clothing."

"Okay, because this does _not_ suit me." Joey said in disgust. The YouTubers were loaded into the SWAT vehicle, which had just enough room for them all to stand up.

"After this we should definitely take a vacation." Alfie said decisively.

"Sure, mate," Felix nodded in Alfie's direction. Now, YouTubers can say all they want about them all not being a big, happy family, but- much like _Harry Potter_ says- there are some things which, if you go through them, there is no way you cannot be friends. And being kidnapped, losing most of your previous friends, and hiking for three days through desert terrain is one of them.


	6. Gasoline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit happens.

"Okay, we have all of your stories, and I have to say, they're all similar enough to be correct." An FBI Agent, Detective Morris, reviewed his paperwork.

"Well, I didn't waste Nutella for nothing," Troye pouted.

"We require you all to demonstrate your powers," Morris said, "However, we understand that you've gone through trauma and your powers do not reach your psyche."

"I have brought up a solution," A third detective, Detective Aaron (he required that his first name be on the badge- don't ask why. It's personal, apparently.) said, "We could build a living space for all of them, an apartment of sorts. Let them live in the city, continue with their jobs, decorate the place to their heart's content. The only catch would be that they cannot leave for more than twenty four hours. We simply cannot have unsupervised superpowered individuals running rampant."

"Well, it sounds better than the nutjob who forcefully kidnapped us," Shane shrugged.

"I also recommend that a therapist sees that you are safe and sane," Aaron shrugged, "It's the least we can do. Now, where did all of you live?" A score of different answers from each YouTuber meant that yet another officer- whose name is unimportant- had to write it all down.

"Okay. We will pay for your living space and new furniture, clothing, and other necessities of your choice. We will give you $3,000 each to spend on miscellaneous items, such as computers and other smart devices. We see no reason why the general public should not know that you have powers."

"I suddenly understand Steve Rogers a lot better," Dan said offhandedly, yawning.

"Please exit single file, there is a bus to take you to Pacific, Missouri." Morris said curtly.

"Really? Another Pacific?" Joey questioned. It may have seemed like a crazy coincidence, but in reality it was the author's laziness.

"Yep." Aaron said, "And your bus driver will be Stan." Nobody cared that the bus driver's name was Stan, just that- for the first time in what seemed like forever- they would be getting a decent amount of sleep.

.o0o.

The bus ride was uneventful and filled with snoring. Dan and Phil were resting on one another's shoulders. Zoe and Alfie were too. Tyler and Troye were happy to just sit in the silence and enjoy the peace for what felt like the first time in three days. Hannah and Ingrid were chatting animatedly about nothing and everything at the same time.

.o0o.

The complex wasn't too large, it had about three floors. The first one contained a common room that doubled as a lounge area.

"Ugh," Shane groaned as he collapsed onto the leather sofa. The whole complex was surprisingly tasteful, especially for being designed by the government. Shane groaned again as Joey collapsed on top of him.

"Personal space, man." Shane's voice was muffled.

"What was that?" Joey teased.

"Y'know, if I were any less tired, I'd throw you onto the ground, but instead I am going to sleep." Shane muttered. The two fell asleep right there, although if anything Joey's clinginess was caused by his boyfriend's death.

"Aw, they're practically married," Tyler cooed.

"Shush," Troye said roughly, "Joey's boyfriend just _died_ , in case you didn't remember."

"My _roommate_ died," Tyler snapped back, "I think I remember just fine."

"I know, I'm sorry, Ty." Troye apologized immediately.

"What were you saying about a married couple?" Dan sniggered.

"Oh, like you have any room to talk," Tyler chuckled back.

"I- me and Phil are _just friends_." Dan tried to defend himself, but in vain.

"Hey Dan, there's only one bed in our room." Phil pointed out.

"Phil," Dan groaned, "Fine, we can share."

"'Just friends'." Troye mocked Dan.

"Shut up." Dan glowered. He stalked off with a very confused Phil, leaving Troye and Tyler in stitches. Everybody else had their living arrangements figured out, except Joey, Shane, Tyler, and Troye- although you can probably guess who decided to room with who.

"Wow, the only rooms left are single king-sized beds," Troye said, "I guess this means we'll have to share."

"Yeah, yeah, squirt." Tyler said affectionately.

"Grandpa." Troye shot back.

"That was uncalled for!" Tyler said melodramatically. The two went into their room.

"I'll change first." Tyler went into the bathroom. An upright shower and a soaking tub greeted him, for which he was pleasantly surprised. He decided to take a bath, which felt like heaven. His hair dye was just about washed out, and his hair was returning to the blond color it was naturally. Tyler decided he liked it blond and he wouldn't splurge on hair dye.

"Okay, your turn." Tyler walked back into their room, wearing the white boxers and plaid fuzzy pajama pants the government had provided them with. The only problem, in Troye's opinion, was that they had forgotten a shirt, and it was very distracting.

"Thanks," Troye said hurriedly, grabbing his own pajamas and also taking a bath. When he had dried off he realized that his hair was way too long, he'd have to get it cut. He pulled on the boxers and pants and then realized that they had provided shirts, Tyler had just opted not to wear his. Troye decided that he could play that game too, and left his shirt off when he walked back into the bedroom.

"C'mon, Sleeping Beauty," Tyler said. Troye climbed into the bed beside Tyler, and- deciding to one-up the older man- cuddled up to him. Instead of distracting Tyler further, he only succeeded in making Tyler feel more sleepy. Tyler wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and the two fell asleep like that, completely ignoring the fact that they had so much space to spread out in.

.o0o.

"Do all of the rooms only have one bed?" Dan groaned.

"No, I think some of the others have two singles, but this one has extra outlets by the bed." Phil shrugged, smirk on his lips.

"Phil," Dan's voice held a warning tone. Not because he didn't like Phil's advances, but because he didn't want to fall for the older male, almost as if he didn't want to prove the fans right.

"Dan," Phil mocked him.

"I'm changing first, you spork." Dan rolled his eyes and grabbed the clothes laid out for him. He took a shower and dressed in record time, walking back out and flopping onto the bed. It felt glorious. Phil rushed to do the same and flopped down on top of Dan.

"Get off me!" Dan squealed, trying- and failing- to hold back laughter.

"As soon as you say, 'I love AmazingPhil'." Phil teased, "Say it."

"No!" Dan gasped, "Get off me!"

"Time for your neck massage, Danny Boy," Phil said in a creepy voice, reaching forward to touch Dan's neck.

"I love AmazingPhil." Dan said immediately. Phil giggled and rolled off.

"I hate you." Dan mumbled, burying his head in his arms.

"No you don't." Phil smiled radiantly at the boy, who just shot a stream of darkness towards the light switch, turning it off.

"Hey," Phil said, letting some dim light flow from his fingertips.

"Shut up." Dan said, chuckling at how cute Phil was. Wait, no he wasn't. His best friend was goofing off, that's why he was laughing.

"Nope. 'Cuz, guess why?" Phil said.

"What?" Dan asked, quirking an eyebrow at his friend.

"I love DanIsNotOnFire." Phil admitted. Dan was shocked. He didn't know what to say.

"Phil-" Dan's eyes clouded, "Really?"

"You're making me nervous." Phil gulped.

"I love AmazingPhil." Dan said, laughing lightly.

"I love the Internet Cult Leader." Phil smiled widely.

"I love the guy with the hair from YouTube and Radio 1."

"I LOVE MY SLEEP." Lily called from the next room over, which she shared with Cat, "I GET THAT YOU'RE IN LOVE AND ALL, BUT CAN YOU SAVE IT FOR THE MORNING?"

"SORRY," Phil quickly apologized, extinguishing the light emanating from his hands.

"Goodnight," Dan sighed, burying his head in Phil's chest and breathing in his scent.

"Goodnight," Phil replied, placing a kiss to the top of Dan's head. The two drifted off quite soon.

.o0o.

The same flash of too-white teeth filled the room.

"Perfect." He cackled, "Recording. Mark 32 a success. Prepare for launch."

.o0o.

In a classroom in Pacific, Missouri, there lived a class of absolutely insignificant individuals with an absolutely insignificant teacher.

They made a skit one day and decided to share it with the whole world. Now, the skit in it of itself was funny. It went viral.

The class was in third hour. They were separated. In perfect union, the class spoke in voices that certainly weren't theirs.

"Perfect is the stars that shine,  
But only when the night is blind,  
And when the stars come falling down,  
The darkness looks on with a frown,  
And if to fall is what you seek,  
Then the night is all but bleak,  
But the light will not help you see,  
Unless the darkness makes you plea,  
But if light holds darkness,  
That is true,  
Then maybe darkness,  
Holds light too."

Their vision 

all

went

black.

_Chapter Song: Gasoline; by Halsey_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Serious apologies for the short chapter, I feel like literal shit. Kudos and comments fill me with determination. Thanks so much! ;3


	7. Kingdom Come

Dan and Phil woke to bright sunlight filtering through their window.

"Good morning, Phil." Dan yawned.

"Goon morning." Phil responded, "So, about last night-"

"I know, don't mention it," Dan grumbled. They'd had several times when they'd admitted this to each other when they were drunk or sleep deprived, but before they just ignored it.

"I'm pretty sure half the complex heard us," Phil rolled his eyes, "Plus, I think we need to stop being so emotionally constipated."

"Okay, than," Dan said seriously, "In that case, would you like to go get lunch sometime?"

"Really? A date? Daniel James Howell, how bold of you," Phil grinned, "Of course."

"Perfect," Dan purred, slipping his hand into Phil's. They walked through the halls to the 'dining room'. There was a map. It took them an hour to find the map. The map was located right next to the stairs.

"What took you two so long?" Shane immediately questioned them when they walked into the dining room.

"We- uh-" Dan was blushing, "We got lost." Phil was blushing too.

"Ooh, suuuuurrrrreeee." Shane said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Hey, we did get lost!" Phil blushed harder, "The map was hard to find!"

"The map was next to the stairs." Mark pointed out, downing a coffee.

"Shut up," Dan grumbled.

"Who wants _bacon_?" Hannah called from the kitchen, where she was cooking with Ingrid helping (distracting) her.

"Oh." Tyler gasped, "My. God. Babe, this smells like heaven."

"Thanks, they have a 'secret' wine cabinet," Hannah made quotations around 'secret'.

"Oh great, just what the world needs," Dan complained, "One less excuse for Dan to do another Internet Support Group video."

"I had to read _The Lung Fic_. On camera." Frank hissed.

"Oh man, I am so sorry." Shane sniggered, "Your fanbase is very... intriguing."

"Shut up." Apparently, that was the phrase of the day. After that little squabble, everyone sat back down to eat their delicious breakfast.

"My God this is the best bacon." Troye muttered, "My queen." He bowed to Hannah. Nearly everybody at the table started to do the same, cracking up.

They should have known it couldn't last.

.o0o.

**"Launching Program X in T- 10, 9, 8..."**

Bedlevic grinned. The flash of white from his teeth was artificial in looks and purpose. A crackle of electricity spread throughout the room."

"Now, they fall." His smile was twisted. He disappeared.

.o0o.

They knew something was wrong when voices started to flow through the building. It sounded like children, or maybe it was old people? The voices sounded like nothing, and everything.

"Perfect is the stars that shine,  
But only when the night is blind,  
And when the stars come falling down,  
The darkness looks on with a frown,  
And if to fall is what you seek,  
Then the night is all but bleak,  
But the light will not help you see,  
Unless the darkness makes you plea,  
But if light holds darkness,  
That is true,  
Then maybe darkness,  
Holds light too."

The voices- or maybe it was a single voice- sent shivers down everybody's spine.

"That doesn't sound good," Mark said, voice becoming high-pitched from fear.

"No shit, it feels like Spooky Week in August." Dan said, standing up. He stood in a crouch, listening for anything. Shane went invisible. Connor split himself and stood back-to-back with his doppelgänger. Lily stared through the building, eyes intense. Ian and Anthony looked like the next power couple, as did Tyler and Troye. Frank had turned the water faucet on, and was gathering the fluid in his hands. Jon was flying, and Felix looked ready to cut a bitch- given the fact that he had been given the ability to manipulate metal, this was understandable. Hannah and Ingrid stood back-to-back, much like Connors 1.0 and 2.0.

"Something's coming," The words barely left Lily's lips before the wall exploded.

.o0o.

In the absolutely ordinary town of Pacific, Missouri, there was an absolutely ordinary school, with an absolutely ordinary classroom, and some absolutely extraordinary students, with an absolutely extraordinary teacher.

What made them extraordinary wasn't their powers. Their powers had been forgotten the instant they blacked out. What made them extraordinary was the words they wrote.

.o0o.

"Hey, guys," Bedlevic smiled creepily, "I'm back."

"Damn, and I thought you would be nice." Alfie whined.

"Really?" Dan asked sarcastically, "You thought he'd be _nice_? When he met us, he insinuated that we were a couple, threatened to separate us, and kept us in a holding cell for twenty-four hours."

"Hey, I fed you two." Bedlevic snarled.

"No you didn't!" Phil protested.

"Okay, so maybe I didn't feed you," Bedlevic defended himself, "But I was _so_ disappointed when you all ran away."

"You're a nutjob." Shan hissed in Bedlevic's ear, "And we're going to destroy you."

"Yeah? Tell that to my army." Bedlevic laughed.

"What army? All of your friends are dead!" Troye laughed.

Bedlevic narrowed his eyes and responded, "So are yours."

.o0o.

Nobody's sure exactly who threw the first punch (it was Ian and he technically didn't punch Dr. Bedlevic, he just manipulated earth to fly at his face.). Then everyone was confused and there were particles everywhere.

"Say hello to my little friends," Bedlevic cackled, sending the little lights darting forward. The little lights didn't feel like the ones Phil let out, they felt like wasp stings. Giant fucking wasp stings covering your entire body is not a pleasant experience. Dan lashed out with his darkness and Bedlevic was suddenly on the ground as opposed to flying in the air.

"You're going to regret every single word you've said to me," Bedlevic snarled, "The great Machinist!"

"Oh, so he gets a cool superhero persona and I don't?" Frank asked sarcastically, drenching Bedlevic in the hopes that his namesake meant he wasn't waterproof.

"You're going to regret that, too," Bedlevic grinned and disappeared. The last thing you could see was his grin like the Cheshire Cat.

"Wait wha-" Frank cut himself off with a scream. He writhed on the floor, electricity travelling through his body. Finding the source of the electricity, Alfie froze Bedlevic, making him visible. Zoe worked to heal Frank, and, while it might have been a little rushed, it worked.

Bedlevic moved.

"That's not possible," Alfie gasped.

"Your powers aren't possible," Bedlevic retorted, "So why didn't I get them?"

"You tell us!" Cat yelled at him. She sent lightning bolts at him. He disappeared again.

"Quick! Spread out!" Felix hissed.

"Are you joking?!" Mark yelled back, "That's how everybody _dies_ in horror movies!"

"Yeah, but you know what's different from that?" Felix returned, "We don't have to be alone."

"Fair point." Mark shrugged, "Connor comes with me."

"Oh, you're just saying that." Both Connors quipped at the same time.

"That is too weird." Mark sighed, " _One_ Connor comes with me. I can only teleport one other person."

" _Fine_ ," Both Connors groaned. They joined together and Mark grabbed Connor's shoulder.

"Later," Mark flashed a smile and the two disappeared to the roof.

"Phil and I go together." Dan said. Of course, nobody had actually intended to separate the two for obvious reasons, but then again, nobody was going to say that. The two left for the common room, which was a floor lower.

"So, lunch tomorrow," Phil smiled. Dan grinned back.

"Yeah, you spork." Dan said affectionately.

.o0o.

Hannah and Ingrid were the only ones left in the dining room. They stood back-to-back, in perfect silence, the only sound their breathing.

"Remember, stay behind me." Hannah said solemnly to her girlfriend.

"I can fight," Ingrid pouted.

"Your ability is mental, not physical," Hannah reminded her. Ingrid had the power to make people tell the truth, and even read minds if she tried hard enough. The "I don't want you to get hurt" was left unsaid, but not unmentioned.

"Aw, young love," A soft, rasping voice that seemed almost robotic filled the room.

"Fuck off." Hannah reached out with her ability.

"Three o'clock." Ingrid pointed to a chair. Hannah felt the presence dissipate as soon as Ingrid located it.

"Why are you doing this?" Hannah asked.

"Why did you get powers, but not me?" The voice asked in a tone that obviously mocked Hannah's, "When I was the one who invented it?"

"What?" Hannah let down her guard for one second too long. There was a flash of lightning and Ingrid toppled to the floor.

"Ingrid?" Hannah gasped. Her eyes filled with tears and her heart was torn between sadness and rage.

"How could you?" She snarled. Her eyes flashed white and she could instantly find Bedlevic.

"Found you," Her voice was quiet and loud at the same time. She clenched her fist in front of her, and Bedlevic's invisibility faltered.

"What?" Bedlevic gasped, "But... I made it indestructible!"

"Oh, silly boy," Hannah said cruelly, "When your heart is ripped out of your chest, do you know what it feels like?" Bedlevic shook his head rapidly, "It feels a little something like this."

Bedlevic vanished.

"Ingrid!" Hannah dropped to the floor and kneeled in front of her girlfriend. A trickle of blood ran from Ingrid's nose.

"Don't go," Hannah pleaded.

"I'm not going anywhere." Ingrid whispered, tears in her eyes, "I'll be right here." She pressed her finger to Hannah's heart.

"In my boob. You'll be in my boob." Hannah tried to bring light to the situation. Ingrid and Hannah chuckled through their tears.

"Always." Ingrid said before she closed her eyes, "Goodbye."

"No," Hannah whispered. She clutched Ingrid close to her chest and cried for a long time, "You were all I had left."

.o0o.

"Phil, I'm going to check the hallway," Dan said to his friend (they still hadn't had too much time to talk about exactly what they were).

"Okay." Phil nodded. Dan went into the hallway, only to hear a crash in the room.

"Dan. Dan!" Phil's voice echoed. Dan raced around the corner. This all felt horribly familiar and yet so different.

"What's wrong... Phil?!" Dan gasped. His friend was clutching his stomach, eyes glazed over. 

"G-Goodbye Dan." Phil rasped, "I might have to take a rain check for lunch." 

"No! Don't say that!" Dan said frantically, "We- we just need Zoe. Zoe!" 

"'s too late." Phil slowly fell to the ground, "You'll move on, find someone better, someone new." 

"No I won't." Dan's voice sounded sure, "I won't find someone better than you. Please don't leave, stay with me. Just stay with me." 

"Goodbye Dan. I- I love you-" Phil made a strangled sound and closed his eyes. 

"I can't say goodbye," Dan's words changed, "I won't say goodbye."

Then- for the first time all week- something went horribly right. Something swirled around them, almost-dark and almost-light. It made branches and dappled over Dan and Phil's forms. Dan clutched Phil to his chest in what was almost a perfect mirror of Hannah and Ingrid. The words that sounded across the room finally made sense. They weren't a warning. They were a prophecy.

_Then maybe darkness holds light too._

.o0o.

Mark heard the crash on the first floor. He had heard screams.

"I just have to go check it out." He promised Connor before the other man could protest. Connor pouted the whole time Mark was gone.

"You, good sir," Mark said to Bedlevic upon discovering Dan and Phil, "Are coming with me." He teleported an injured Bedlevic, but he could only go so far. He passed out in the room that Tyler and Troye had taken up.

"He's all yours, boys," Mark said just before he passed out.

"He's alive," Troye said quickly, feeling for Mark's pulse.

"Perfect." Tyler smiled maliciously at Bedlevic.

"Now, now, can't we all act like civilized human beings?" Bedlevic acted terrified.

"Of course," Tyler lied, "Just like it was civilized to keep us locked up."

"Let's just say," Troye smiled the same smiled as Tyler, "My voice can do a hell of a lot more than sing." He nodded to Tyler, who covered his ears with sound-proof headphones. Tyler gave Troye a thumbs up, and Troye screamed. A window shattered. Bedlevic desperately covered his ears. Mark was still asleep. Eventually, with Troye still screaming, Tyler clapped a shockwave at Bedlevic, who immediately stopped moving. He looked like a broken toy. All Tyler could see was Korey.

"Hey, hey," Troye immediately moved to comfort the older man, "It's okay! He was a horrible person! We're not in California, we're in Missouri. We're not there. We're here." Tyler nodded blankly and allowed Troye to take him by the hand and lead him out of the room.

"We did it." Troye said. Tyler still felt blank. "It me, Ty."

"It you," Tyler responded.

"It us." Troye giggled, placing a kiss to Tyler's lips.

 

.o0o.

In an insignificant classroom in an insignificant school in an insignificant town, there was a class of extraordinarily significant individuals.

They were significant because of one reason; they wrote. One of them wrote a skit. The teacher was a musician, so naturally, he had a camera. They preformed the skit. It went viral for it being meaningless and insignificant. Unfortunately, the camera didn't work after the skit. They had to throw it away. The camera landed in the bin with a satisfying _smash_ , the box soon following it. The box with a label that read _The Levi Camera; Created and Distributed by Rajesh Bedlevic, PhD._

.o0o.

Everybody met back in dining room.

"Are you okay?" Lily could immediately pick up on Hannah's sadness.

"No." Hannah told the truth.

"Do you need a hug?" Phil was concerned. Dan grabbed Phil's hand because he was terrified of losing him again.

_He could have sworn that Phil was dead. Suddenly there was a lot of swirling light and darkness that reminded Dan of the yin yang symbol. He thought about all the times he and Phil had shared; PINOF, DanAndPhilGAMES, BBC Radio 1, Internet Takeover, and so many meaningless moments. All the late-night chats. Five-hour Skype calls._

_"Dan," Phil rasped, shocking Dan out of his memories._

_"Phil!" Dan replied, sobbing into the man's chest, knowing that everything would be okay._

"Yeah," Hannah admitted. Mark and Connor wrapped their arms around Hannah.

"We know what it's like," Mark said to her.

"I've lost everybody." She whispered in realization, "She was the last."

"Did you figure out why he did it?" Shane asked her.

"He said something about him inventing our powers on accident?" Hannah guessed.

"No fucking clue, then." Dan said in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit. Zoe got to healing everybody, from the little stings of light to the traps Bedlevic had placed around the house to just random bumps and scratches.

"I'm afraid I can't heal a broken heart." She said, giving Hannah a quick hug.

"I'll be okay." Hannah sniffled. She was right, of course, but she couldn't help but think about how her bed would only hold one person that night. After Zoe had finished healing everyone, they decided to just stand or sit in silence. The silent "What now?" Hung heavily in the air.

"Why don't we share our story?" Joey wondered, "This would make the best vlog."

"It really would, wouldn't it?" Jon snorted, "Yeah, that'd get views like crazy."

"So let's get to work." Anthony smiled.

.o0o.

In an insignificant classroom in an insignificant school in an insignificant town, there was a class of extraordinarily significant individuals.

They were significant because of one reason; they wrote. One of them wrote a skit. One of them wrote this story.

_Chapter Song: Kingdom Come; by The Civil Wars_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize, this chapter is probs shitty as I feel horrible. I'm pretty sure I have a fever and I can barely walk to the bathroom. So the good news is that I'll have nothing better to do than write! And the bad news is that I'm pretty much high on bacteria. 
> 
> ALSO: Major apologies for the confusion of last chapter, but I pinky promise all will be explained.
> 
> ALSO ALSO: I was not expecting the end to be that meta, but oh well!


End file.
